iNK Stories VR Experience “Hero” awarded at Tribeca

Starbreeze Publishing is pleased to note that “Hero,” a VR experience developed in partnership with iNK Stories was awarded the prestigious Storyscapes award at the ongoing Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

The Jury’s motivation:

“Texture. Beauty. Heat. Life. Hero is an extraordinary story of life in a country under siege. It uses ambitious technology, and pushes viewers right up to, but not past, what one’s senses can bear. It will help you understand where VR is going, but also, viscerally, in some ways where this world is going.”

“We’re pleased that the jury chose to recognize Hero as we feel it’s not only an important story that was deserved to be told, but it also represents a huge advancement in the way VR will enable content creators to amaze and tell immersive stories in the future” said Mikael Nermark, Head of Starbreeze Publishing.

HERO​ puts audiences at the center of a moment of a civilian air raid in a Syrian city, where choices shape one’s own experience. In an unprecedented use of interactive technology to convey a deeper humanity–​–​HERO​ features multisensory engagement touch, smell, climate, utilizing ​56 tracking cameras and a 32 audio DTS channel solution featuring DTSX tools to achieve the groundbreaking, haptic sound design. ​Thisuntethered experience powered by​ the HP Z VR Backpack PC allows for the full potential of virtual reality to come to life with the most powerful wearable VR PC available, giving participants an astonishingly immersive experience. The collaboration with DTS and Starbreeze redefines a location-based VR experience and takes experiential storytelling to a whole new level.

iNK Stories is the award winning, visionary studio known for bringing authentic and impactful stories to immersive entertainment such as the BAFTA nominated and Facebook’s Game of the Year Winner, ​1979 Revolution​. At Tribeca Film Festival ‘18, iNK Stories proudly presents the NYC Premiere of ​HERO​––the latest in their Vérité VR Series made in partnership with Starbreeze Publishing. As the only touring exhibit of ​HERO​, Tribeca Film Festival marks a special opportunity to catch this impactful piece. Available to the public with tickets from April 20th-28th. ​HERO​ ​was one of five immersive experiences in competition for the prestigious Tribeca Storyscapes Award.

HERO is part of Starbreeze Virtual Reality (VR) experiences produced under its Publishing arm to be produced for future Location Based Initiatives (LBE) in the StarVR Virtual Reality HMD. Each experience aims to push the bar far beyond what’s possible in-home use setups.

Starbreeze is an independent creator, publisher and distributor of high-quality entertainment products. With studios in Stockholm, Paris, Los Angeles, Barcelona and Brussels, the company creates games and other virtual reality entertainment products, based on proprietary design and licensed content. Starbreeze most recent games include PAYDAY 2®, VR-shooter John Wick Chronicles, and upcoming survival co-op FPS OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead. Under its publishing initiative, Starbreeze has together with Canadian studio Behaviour Digital successfully launched horror thriller Dead by Daylight.

Starbreeze has set out to develop truly immersive virtual reality experiences, by integrating software and hardware in its StarVR® head mounted display, which is produced together with Acer.

iNK Stories is an entertainment company focused on creating visionary stories that elevate, entertain and engage audiences through digital experiences.

With offices in New York City and Los Angeles, iNK’s outstanding team led by the distinctive pedigree of founder Navid Khonsari who contributed to the cinematic look and feel for iconic game franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, The Warriors, Alan Wake, Home Front and the highest grossing VR game to date Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.

Our award winning cinematic and interactive projects have garnered top honors from institutions such as BAFTA, Sundance, Tribeca, UNESCO, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (DICE), International Mobile Game Awards, IndieCade plus 2017 Facebook’s Game of the Year.

iNk Stories is building the new wave of immersive entertainment across screens; Virtual Reality, Games, Episodic Narrative with partners such as Google, Intel, Star VR, Capcom, VR for Change and Yale University.